Monday 22nd February, 2010
The names of the players selected for the Solomon Islands Senior Women’s National Football team have been released. This comes as the Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) looks at getting the team ready for the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Nations Cup tournament in Auckland in October this year.

SIFF Women’s Development Officer, Diane Justus, who coordinated the selection of players in the 2009 Solomon Cup said that the early publication of the list is mainly to inform the selected players so that they can start preparing for the call-up which will come later in the year.

“I encourage the players who are named to start their own training and work on their fitness,” Justus said. “Players do not have to wait for the call-up before they start training; an early start is always the best.”

A number of the players in the list were selected from the SIFF Honiara Women’s Football League which resumed on Saturday (20th February). The Honiara Women’s League will provide the greatest contribution to the players’ fitness levels and its resumption is also welcomed by the National Women’s U-17 Team who are training for the OFC Women’s Championship in Auckland in April.

The Solomon Islands Football Coaches Association (SIFCA) will meet in Honiara later this week to appoint the coaches who will look after the preparations of the Senior Women’s National Team for the OFC Nation’s Cup tournament.

The last outing of the Senior Women’s National Team was at the South Pacific Games in Samoa in 2007. SIFF is also looking ahead to the 2011 South Pacific Games in New Caledonia and intends to direct the team’s focus towards it after the OFC Nations Cup tournament.

 “Our participation in the OFC Nations Cup will help shape the team for the 2011 South Pacific Games,” Diane Justus said.

View list of players here.